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The sermon at the installation of the Rev.

Joy Fallon as minister of King's Chapel on Sunday, September 22, 2013 What does Jesus say of himself? He says, I am the vine. What does he not say of himself? He does not say, I am the seed, or the sun, or the source. He does say, I am the vine. And what is a vine? A vine is a flexible stalk that grows by extensions and branches. The branches bear beans, or melons, squashes, berries or grapes, grapes for wine which makes glad the heart of humankind. What does Jesus say of us? He says, we are the branches. What else does he say ? He says, A branch cannot bear fruit unless it's part of the vine, and neither can you unless you are part of me. But whoever is part of me will bear much fruit, (and elsewhere he adds) some thirty, some sixty, some a hundredfold. So, what is he saying? Jesus says he is the channel/the conduit for the life God wants to give us, the gladness God wants us to enjoy. But to receive this joy and thus to give it, we must be connected to him, Now am I wrong or does this not offend our sense of independence? For, after all we live in a smorgasbord of options, a world with many vines bearing many different fruits and flavors. Don't we want the freedom to choose what we like, what seems significant to us? I guess that we do.

And yet at the same time do we not also know that we can only give what we have been given, can only teach what we have been taught, can only share what has been shared with us, can only love as we ourselves have been loved? I think we know that. For a full life, we all have to be connected to some vine. To be a Christian is to be connected to the Jesus vine, and thus to be connected to the extension of that vine in history, namely, the Christian church. But the church - oh dear, what a sad and sorry state it stands in now! I have spent fifty-five years of my life, immersed in church life, the institutions and the people. I look back on these years with gratitude, but also with sadness. Sadness, I say, because one cannot have been a minister during this time without watching the corruptions of the church and its satellites, its betrayals, its arrogance and its failure to live the good news entrusted to it. For example, during the past half century denominational headquarters have grown in power and, not surprisingly, congregations have dwindled. Could there be a correlation between those realities? During these years I have sensed increasing confusion and uncertainty among well-meaning Christians in the pews, and their declining knowledge of and declining trust in their church's own traditions and beliefs. And so we see their churches looking to corporate models for ministry, to advertising for new members, to popular spirituality for their theology to their own personal inclinations for what make a good worship service. None of this seems to have produced any significant church growth.

It saddens me to see the results of this decline - of church buildings turned into boutiques, condos, restaurants, discotheques, hotels, antique shops, art galleries, supermarkets. At least a few become shelters for the poor. It saddens and angers me to see church disciplinary agencies operate without any sense of due process; the accused are more likely to find justice in a secular court, if they can afford it. And finally, to end this litany, it saddens me to know that I do not know how much I have been part of this betrayal. Retirement is an opportunity for regret. Possibly as penance I've been collecting quotes and passages which criticize the church. These are not written by atheists, agnostics or disillusioned defectors, but by practicing, faithful Christians. I'll read just two such quotes: From theologian Karl Barth The church is the place where man takes his last stand against God. And radical Dorothy Day -Where else can we go but to the church? She is a harlot at times, but she is still our Mother. Now why does Dorothy Day, a devout, conventional Catholic, who attacked the church hierarchy in her dayand called her church a harlot, also called the church our Mother? I think she did so, because she knew that the church carries the life of Christ within her womb, in the depth of her creative and life-giving soul; I think she knew that in every generation the church gives birth to Christ, the God-life. I think she knew that those who want the fulness of that life will find it. As early as 50 AD Saint Paul knew how difficult Xns could be. He founded a church in Corinth, which became a scene of frequent wrangling, and a source of grief for him.

And yet despite this he wrote to his difficult parishioners a wonderful summary of our Christian faith: "It is the God who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness' who has shone in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." And then he adds "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels to show that the transcendent power belongs to God and not to us." Earthen vessels - bureaucrats, ministers, lay leaders, well-meaning folks and a few not so well meaning - earthen vessels. Folks who mess up. But, you see, even when we mess up, indeed, perhaps in the very act of messing up we witness to a better way, namely to the God-life of the one who said, "I came that my joy might be in you, and your joy might be full." This faith is not a hand-me-down, an heirloom or just a tradition. After all, our Lord called himself the Truth, not tradition.

The God-life that lives in the womb of the church must be discovered and rediscovered in every generation. Christian Unitarians in the 1800's tried to base their faith on the rational arguments of the 1700's, and it's no surprise that so many other Unitarians at that time preferred the Transcendentalist appeal to immediate experience. In fact, it was the liberal Congregationalists in the 1800's thanks largely to Lyman Beecher and his allies, who discovered an open-hearted, open minded faith in Christ. And so the Congregational church continued to be Christian. St, Paul says - "we have these treasures in earthen vessels." What is the treasure? It is not a plan or a program or anything so seemingly pragmatic,

It is a promise, a promise that stands opposed to what we find in most headlines, opposed to what we hear in most political rhetoric, opposed to what see in almost all advertising, opposed to the church scramble for the religious market, and opposed to the array of secular religions based on winning - on who will win the World Series, the lottery, the election, or the next war. Those who trust in these gods cannot take seriously the promise of Christian faith, The promise says in the words of Dame Julian of Norwich that "All shall be well." That promise says in the words of W. H. Auden that "God will cheat no one, not even the world of its triumph." That promise says in the words of Jesus, "Look, I am with you always even to the end." There is power in this promise and there is life in the heart of the church, and it is that promise and that life which this congregation at King's Chapel and our new minister, Joy Fallon, now have the great opportunity to rediscover and relive. They will discover the promise in the psalms, the scriptures, the saints, the treasury of Christian song - hymns and anthems, in the great stories of faith journeys including our own, and in the prayerbook liturgies, including the new ways in which this congregation will live that tradition. This congregation will find new ways to express its compassion in the world, this city and the people who pass by at the corner of School and Tremont Streets. You, people and pastor, have embarked on a journey of discovery to find and relive the faith inherited those who worked, worshipped and witnessed through times as turbulent as ours. And at the outset of this journey you must remember that you are not alone, you are connected to a life line, a vine, that extends back at least two, if not three. thousand years. As I've been saying these words you may be saying to yourself, "Well, that's very nice, but I don't know. I'm not very religious," or "I'm not very Christian." But, look, if God could bring a living church out of the Corinthians, God should not find King's Chapel an insuperable obstacle. In this new life you, people and pastor, will find that you can give each other gifts - the ones which Paul commended in his Corinthian parish - preaching, teaching, healing, administration, generosity, listening, counseling, and your own singular gifts of art and song, good judgement or simply being a non-

threatened and non-threatening presence. One thing more. When you give your gifts to each other, you will become a congregation whom newcomers want to be part of. They will feel the faith within you and among you. They will say to themselves, "These folks are real. I think I'll to come again." Jesus said, "I am the vine. You are the branches." You know,maybe that's not a bad arrangement. Let us sing the next hymn, "Be Thou My Vision."

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